National Academy Of Arts And Sciences

I continue to be bothered by the notion of a musician's worth being validated by earning "a Grammy nomination." As a Grammy nominator seeking to change certain National Academy of Arts and Sciences' practices, I can report that some 600 classical recordings "earn" Grammy nominations each year. Thus, a wag might say that it's hard to avoid getting a nomination. Winning a Grammy--as Adams did for "Nixon in China"--is another thing. HERBERT GLASS Los Angeles

The all-time leading Grammy Award winners Sir Georg Solti: 26 Vladimir Horowitz: 22 Henry Mancini: 20 Quincy Jones: 19 Stevie Wonder: 17 John T. Williams: 15 Aretha Franklin: 14 Leotyne Price: 13 Ella Fitzgerald: 12 Itzhak Perlman: 12 Paul Simon: 12 SOURCE: National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences: "The Grammy Winners Book"

Four new categories--Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance, Best Rap Performance, Best Fusion Performance and Best Bluegrass Recording--have been added to the 1989 Grammy awards, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences announced this week. The academy also said that next year's awards ceremony will move from New York back to the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, although the academy is looking for a larger venue for the 1990 awards ceremony.

Ken Kragen, the celebrity manager who organized the U.S.A. for Africa famine song recording, will receive the National Academy of Video Arts and Sciences' Humanitarian Award, the academy announced. Jennifer Libbee, the academy's executive director, said Kragen will receive the award during the group's 3rd annual American Video Awards ceremonies Wednesday at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

ABC and PBS tied for the lead as nominations for the 26th annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards were released Thursday. Each had 27, spread among a wide array of programs, from ABC's "World News Tonight" and "Good Morning America" to PBS' "Frontline" and "Nova" series. Also receiving double-figure nominations were NBC with 21, the History Channel with 14 and CBS with 10. Winners will be announced in New York on Sept. 19 by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

PBS left the commercial networks in the dust Tuesday in nominations for the 27th annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards, grabbing 33 for a variety of 2005 programs that included "American Experience," "P.O.V.," "Nature" and "Frontline." NBC was second with 19, eight of them going to "NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams," mostly for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. CBS garnered 16 nominations -- 10 for "60 Minutes" -- and ABC had 14. The History Channel collected 12.

Vin Scully will be honored with the Sports Lifetime Achievement Award when the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences presents its sports Emmy Awards on Monday night. The award honors sports broadcasters who have made outstanding career contributions to their profession. Among former recipients are Curt Gowdy, Jim McKay and Pat Summerall. Scully began his broadcast career while he was still at Fordham University, doing baseball, basketball and football on the college radio station.

News Nominees: ABC's Forrest Sawyer and CNN's Peter Arnett received 1991 News and Documentary Emmy Award nominations for outstanding TV coverage of the Persian Gulf War. Overall, ABC led with 34 of the 117 nominations for the 13th annual awards. PBS earned 30 nominations, CBS had 22, Turner Broadcasting System had 13, NBC 7, CNN 5, the Discovery Channel had 4 and HBO had 2, according to the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The awards will be presented Sept.